Why Clichés Weaken Your Manuscript
A cliché is a phrase or idea that was once fresh and striking but has been used so often it's lost its impact. "It was a dark and stormy night." "Her heart raced with fear." "He was as brave as a lion." These expressions don't surprise readers anymore—they've read them hundreds of times, in dozens of books.
When a reader encounters a cliché, they don't feel the emotion you intended. Instead, they feel the weight of every other author who used the same phrase. It's like hearing a song so many times it becomes background noise. Your manuscript deserves better.
Clichés also signal to agents, publishers, and discerning readers that your work might lack originality. Self-published authors especially need to stand out, and relying on tired language is a quick way to blur into the crowd.
Common Types of Clichés to Watch For
Clichés come in several flavors. Knowing what to look for makes spotting them easier.
Metaphors and Similes
These are often the worst offenders:
- "As quiet as a mouse"
- "Light as a feather"
- "Hard as nails"
- "Eyes like pools of blue"
- "Skin as white as snow"
These comparisons were vivid once. Now they're invisible. Readers skip right past them.
Emotional Phrases
Clichés cluster around big feelings:
- "Her heart sank."
- "He felt a chill run down his spine."
- "Tears of joy streamed down her face."
- "His blood ran cold."
- "She was trembling with fear."
These tell readers what to feel rather than showing them through specific, fresh detail.
Action and Description Clichés
- "She took a deep breath."
- "He ran his hand through his hair."
- "The sun set over the horizon."
- "She bit her lip nervously."
- "Time stood still."
These phrases appear so often in manuscripts that editors see them dozens of times a month. Readers see them everywhere.
Dialogue Tags and Beats
- "He said nothing." (when silence is implied)
- "She laughed nervously."
- "They exchanged meaningful glances."
- "He cleared his throat."
Dialogue clichés often signal lazy characterization.
How to Find Clichés in Your Manuscript
Read Your Work Aloud
When you hear a phrase spoken, tired language stands out more. If something sounds familiar—like you've heard it in a movie or another book—flag it. Trust that instinct.
Search for Obvious Culprits
Use your manuscript editor's find function to search for common clichés:
- "heart raced"
- "took a deep breath"
- "ran his hand through"
- "tears streamed"
- "dark and stormy"
- "as quiet as"
- "as brave as"
Start with a list of 10–15 phrases you know are overused in your genre, then search for each one.
Look for Emotional Shortcuts
Clichés often cluster around moments where you're trying to convey strong feeling. Reread passages where your character experiences fear, love, anger, or grief. These are danger zones. If you see a phrase you've read in other books, it's probably a cliché.
Use BookEditor.io's Free Proofread
While BookEditor.io's AI editor focuses primarily on grammar, spelling, and consistency, running a free proofread can help you get a fresh perspective on your manuscript. Sometimes an outside pass—even a limited one—makes tired language jump out at you.
Ask Beta Readers
Beta readers often flag clichés naturally. They might say, "This phrase felt familiar," or "I've read this before." Listen to that feedback. They're not wrong.
Strategies for Replacing Clichés
Get Specific
Instead of "Her heart raced with fear," ask: What does fear look like in this character's body? Maybe her jaw tightens. Maybe her fingernails dig into her palms. Maybe she forgets to blink. These details are fresher and more revealing.
Cliché: "He was as brave as a lion."
Better: "He walked into the burning building without hesitation, though his hands were shaking."
Specificity beats comparison every time.
Use Unexpected Sensory Details
Instead of relying on common emotional phrases, anchor feelings to unusual sensory moments:
Cliché: "She was trembling with rage."
Better: "She could taste copper in her mouth. Her vision narrowed to a single point—his face."
Lean Into Character Voice
How would your specific character describe their emotional state? A scientist might think in different terms than a poet. A teenager in 2024 speaks differently than a Victorian-era character.
Cliché: "He felt a chill run down his spine."
Better (for a modern voice): "Goosebumps erupted across his arms."
Better (for a formal voice): "A sudden cold sensation seized him."
Cut Unnecessary Phrases Entirely
Not every moment needs emotional amplification. Sometimes the most powerful thing is to strip away the cliché and let the action speak:
Cliché: "She took a deep breath and steadied herself."
Better: "She steadied herself." (or even just: "She straightened.")
Find Fresh Comparisons
If you want to use a simile or metaphor, make it specific to your story world or character:
Cliché: "Her skin was as white as snow."
Better: "Her skin had the translucence of old parchment." (or: "She was pale as the hospital walls behind her.")
The comparison should surprise the reader, not feel like it was pulled from a template.
Build a Cliché Awareness List
As you edit, keep a running list of clichés you catch in your own work. Over time, you'll train your eye to spot them faster. Many authors find that after consciously editing out clichés once, they naturally avoid them in future drafts.
Your genre matters too. Romance has its own set of common phrases ("his touch ignited her"), mystery has others ("the pieces fell into place"), and literary fiction has its own tired tropes. Read widely in your genre and notice what language shows up repeatedly. That's the language to avoid.
The Editing Process: Where Clichés Hide
Clichés often survive the first draft and early revisions because you're focused on bigger issues—plot, character, pacing. By the time you reach line editing, you're tired, and familiar phrases can slip past.
Make cliché-hunting a dedicated pass. Don't try to catch them while you're also checking grammar or tightening prose. Give this task its own focused attention.
If you're working with a professional editor, they'll catch many clichés for you. But as a self-editor, you need to be deliberate. Read your manuscript with the specific goal of finding tired language. You'll find more than you expect.
Example Edit: Before and After
Original (heavy clichés):
"Sarah's heart raced as she entered the dark room. She took a deep breath and tried to steady herself. Her eyes darted around nervously. It was as quiet as a mouse. She felt a chill run down her spine. She bit her lip and listened intently. Time seemed to stand still as she waited for him to appear."
Revised (fresher language):
"Sarah stepped into the dark room. Her pulse hammered in her ears. She forced herself to breathe through her nose, counting: one, two, three. The silence pressed against her like a physical thing. Goosebumps rose on her forearms. She waited, jaw clenched, for his footsteps."
The revised version is more immediate, more specific, and more original. It shows the reader Sarah's fear rather than telling them with tired phrases.
Clichés and Your Editing Software
Most editing tools, including free book editing software, won't automatically flag clichés. Grammar checkers catch spelling and punctuation. They don't catch tired language—that's a human judgment call. This is where your own reading and awareness matter most.
However, some paid editing services do include cliché detection as part of their line-editing pass. If you're hiring a professional editor, ask whether they'll flag overused phrases. It's a valuable service, especially for authors early in their careers.
Final Pass: Trust Your Instinct
As you edit for clichés, trust your gut. If a phrase feels familiar, if it sounds like something you've read before, if it doesn't surprise you—it probably won't surprise your reader either. Replace it with something more specific, more honest, more you.
Fresh, original language is one of the clearest markers of a polished, professional manuscript. Readers can feel the difference between work that's been carefully crafted and work that relies on shortcuts. When you edit a book for clichés, you're not just improving individual sentences—you're elevating your entire voice.